Const. O, if thou grant my need, K. John. The king is mov'd, and answers not to this. Const. O, be remov'd from him, and answer well. Aust. Do so, king Philip; hang no more in doubt. Bast. Hang nothing but a calf's-skin, most sweet lout. K. Phi. I am perplex'd, and know not what to say. which untrimmed indicates a deshabille or a frugal vesture. In Minshieu's Dictionary, it signifies one not finely dressed or attired. Again, in Vives's Instruction of a Christian Woman, 1592, p. 98 and 99: "Let her [the mistress of the house] bee content with a maide not faire and wanton, that can sing a ballad with a clere voice, but sad, pale, and untrimmed.” Steevens. I incline to think that the transcriber's ear deceived him, and that we should read as Mr. Theobald has proposed ―a new and trimmed bride. The following passage in King Henry IV, P. I, appears to me strongly to support his conjecture; "When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil,— "Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress'd, Again, more appositely, in Romeo and Juliet : "Go, waken Juliet; go, and trim her up; "Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already." Again, in Cymbeline: 66 and forget "Your laboursome and dainty trims, wherein Again, in our author's Venus and Adonis: "The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim —.” The freshness which our author has connected with the word wim, in the first and last of these passages, and the "laboursome and dainty trims that made great Juno angry, which surely a bride may be supposed most likely to indulge in, (however scantily Blanch's toilet may have been furnished in a camp) prove, either that this emendation is right, or that Mr. Collins's interpretation of the word untrimmed is the true one. Minshieu's definition of untrimmed, "qui n'est point orné,-inornatus, incultus," as well as his explanation of the verb "to trim," which, according to him, means the same as "to prank up," may also be adduced to the same point. See his Dictionary, 1617. Mr. M. Mason justly observes, that "to trim means to dress out, but not to clothe; and, consequently, though it might mean unadorned, it cannot mean unclad, or naked." Malone. Pand. What can'st thou say, but will perplex thee more, If thou stand excommunicate, and curs'd? K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person yours, And tell me, how you would bestow yourself. This royal hand and mine are newly knit; And the conjunction of our inward souls Married in league, coupled and link'd together With all religious strength of sacred vows; The latest breath that gave the sound of words, Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love, Between our kingdoms, and our royal selves; And even before this truce, but new before,No longer than we well could wash our hands, To clap this royal bargain up of peace,—— Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and overstain'd With slaughter's pencil; where revenge did paint The fearful difference of incensed kings: And shall these hands, so lately purg'd of blood, So newly join'd in love, so strong in both,3 Unyoke this seizure, and this kind regreet?" Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven, Make such unconstant children of ourselves, As now again to snatch our palm from palm; Unswear faith sworn; and on the marriage bed Of smiling peace to march a bloody host, And make a riot on the gentle brow Of true sincerity? O holy sir, My reverend father, let it not be so: Some gentle order; and then we shall be bless'd Pand. All form is formless, order orderless, 8 so strong in both,] I believe the meaning is, love so strong in both parties. Johnson." Rather, in hatred and in love; in deeds of amity or blood. 9 Henley. this kind regreet?] A regreet is an exchange of salutation. So, in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632: "So bear our kind regrets to Hecuba." Steevens. A mother's curse, on her revolting son. France, thou may'st hold a serpent by the tongue, A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. For that, which thou hast sworn to do amiss, A cased lion] The modern editors read-a chafed lion. I see little reason for change. A cased lion is a lion irritated by confinement. So, in King Henry VI, P. III, Act I, sc. iii: "So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch "That trembles under his devouring paws;" &c. Steevens. gain, in Rowley's When you see me you know me, 1621: "The lyon in his cage is not so sterne "As royal Henry in his v thful spleene." Our author was probably thinking on the lions, which in his time, as at present, were kept in the Tower, in dens so small as fully to justify the epithet he has used. Malone. 2 Is not amiss, when it is truly done;] This is a conclusion de travers. We should read: Is yet amiss, The Oxford editor, according to his usual custom, will improve it further, and reads-most amiss. Warburton. I rather read: Is 't not amiss, when it is truly done? as the alteration is less, and the sense which Dr. Warburton first discovered is preserved. Johnson. The old copies read: Is not amiss, when it is truly done. Pandulph having conjured the King to perform his first vow to heaven, to be champion of the church,-tells him, that what he has since sworn is sworn against himself, and therefore may not be performed by him: for that, says he, which you have sworn to do amiss, is not amiss, (i. e. becomes right) when it is done truly (that is, as he explains it, not done at all;) and being not done, where it would be a sin to do it, the truth is most done when you do it not. So, in Love's Labour's Lost: "It is religion to be thus forsworn. Ritson. And being not done, where doing tends to ill, And falsehood falsehood cures; as fire cools fire, "With a most false effect, and I the truer By placing the second couplet of this sentence before the first, the passage will appear perfectly clear. Where doing tends to ill, where an intended act is criminal, the truth is most done, by not doing the act. The criminal act therefore which thou hast sworn to do, is not amiss, will not be imputed to you as a crime, if it be done truly, in the sense I have now affixed to truth; that is, if you do not do it. Malone. 3 But thou hast sworn against religion, &c.] The propositions, that the voice of the church is the voice of heaven, and that the Pope utters the voice of the church, neither of which Pandulph's auditors would deny, being once granted, the argument here used is irresistible; nor is it easy, notwithstanding the gingle, to enforce it with greater brevity or propriety: But thou hast sworn against religion: By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st: Against an oath the truth thou art unsure To swear, swear only not to be forsworn. By what. Sir T. Hanmer reads-By that. I think it should be rather-by which. That is, thou swear'st against the thing by which thou swear’st; that is, against religion. The most formidable difficulty is in these lines: And mak'st an oath the surety for thy truth, To swear, &c. This Sir T. Hanmer reforms thus: And mak'st an oath the surety for thy truth, Dr. Warburton writes it thus: Against an oath the truth thou art unsure which leaves the passage to me as obscure as before. I know not whether there is any corruption beyond the omission of a point. The sense, after I had considered it, appeared to me only this: In swearing by religion against religion, to which By what thou swear'st, against the thing thou swear'st; And better conquest never canst thou make, thou hast already sworn, thou makest an oath the security for thy faith against an oath already taken. I will give, says he, a rule for conscience in these cases. Thou may'st be in doubt about the matter of an oath; when thou swearest, thou mayst not be always sure to swear rightly, but let this be thy settled principle, swear only not to be forsworn; let not the latter oaths be at variance with the former. Truth, through this whole speech, means rectitude of conduct. Johnson. I believe the old reading is right; and that the line "By what," &c. is put in apposition with that which precedes it: "But thou hast sworn against religion; thou hast sworn, by what thou swearest, i. e. in that which thou hast sworn, against the thing thou swearest by; i. e. religion. Our author has many such elliptical expressions. So, in King Henry VIII: 66 Whoever the king favours, "The cardinal will quickly find employment [for], Again, ibidem: "This is about that which the bishop spake” [of ]. Again, in King Richard III: "True ornaments to know a holy man" [by]. Again, in The Winter's Tale: "A bed-swerver, even as bad as those Again, ibidem: 66 the queen is spotless "In this that you accuse her" [of]. Malone. -swear only not to be forsworn;] The old copy readsswears, which, in my apprehension, shews that two half lines have been lost, in which the person supposed to swear was mentioned. When the same word is repeated in two succeeding lines, the eye of the compositor often glances from the first to the second, and in consequence the intermediate words are omitted. For what has been lost, it is now in vain to seek; I have therefore adopted the emendation made by Mr. Pope, which makes some kind of sense. Malone. |